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cancel your cyber-rights.net accounts
we are all aware of the recent compromise of hushmail and cyber accts during rawdeal. for those of you dragging your feet, it is time to cancel your accts. husmail is NOT a reliable secure email and you should move immediately to a different secure server.
jb
Posted at: 04-16-2008 - 12:39 PM - Author: jboldman
- Replies: 15 - Views: 510
This Is Jguns
This Is JGUNS
Hello friends, long time no see, so to speak! As I type this there are a number of emotions going through my head, and excitement and trepidation remain to be two of the most prominent. It has been a long time since I have ‘come home’. There is no doubt that this is a long overdue homecoming. CEM is such a big part of my heart that I have thought of this moment thousands of times in the last couple of years. If anyone was to accuse me of anything, the charge that I don’t care would be spurious libel. For my part, It has always been about expectations. I have high expectations of myself, and I have rarely applied myself with the dedication as such a I had with CEM.
CEM was a dream come true for me back in the beginning. Myself, along with Nandi (god rest his soul), imagined a place where the norm was a logical and intellectual pursuit of the honest facts and understanding of all things related to bodybuilding , training, diet, and pharmacology. That we succeeded on such a high level was fulfilling beyond measure, that we forged such a real bond with our members was more than cherry on the sundae. It was more like the glue that kept it all together, and kept my dedication to the board and my friends at a level approaching fanaticism. That being said, I had to make a conscious decision at one point to leave the board for awhile. This was shortly after Nandi had died. Nandi (Karl) and I were very close and his death shocked and disheartened me. His passing away also happened to occur somewhat shortly after my mother died in a horrible car accident. My world was shook, and I was in somewhat of a depression. Well, okay I WAS in a depression. Indeed it was hard for me to operate effectively for a long time, such was my grief. It became apparent to me at that time that the JGUNS that everyone had expectations for, was not in a position to provide the best aspects of what I had been doing. I felt this was unfair to the readers and the last thing I wanted was to bring down the quality of the board, or more specifically for me, let down the readers and the board that I loved. Fortunately, I had the good fortune to have a great core of mods, and of course the classy and intelligent JB to take over the reins. From that point, I wanted JB to be able to establish himself. JB has the kind of commitment to our principles and to the board that is of the type that Nandi and I had established. It of course, was the right decision promoting JB. He has carried the board with tireless dedication and commitment.
So I will catch you up a little on my life in the past couple of years.
I was working in software sales which was a very demanding job. I became the very best, almost from the beginning 9 years ago. I was the undisputed top salesman in our company. I worked to develop a major accounts program that allowed me to expand nationally, instead of just our home territory. At one time, I was responsible for over 50% of the income of the company. I also welcomed the birth of my first child, Drew, whom I had posted pics of on the board. Shortly thereafter I welcomed my wife and I’s second child Cole. So, I was in a demanding job with two little boys which was very demanding of my time. Long story short, I continued to do well in my job, but about 1.5 years ago the company was bought out by a big company (Hence called NEW BIG COMPANY). This company, who I WILL NAME soon, came in and saw my program. My regional management (ex previous company owners) filled my head up with ideas of taking my national program to NEW BIG company. They didn’t have a program like mine so they setup a task force with me so that I could create a new Major Accounts program for them. They worked with me on this a year and negotiated a years salary for me once I was done building the program. They also gave me a target start date of last june . I was in a very difficult position because I had built up hundreds of clients over the years, worth millions of dollars. I was in a position where I was to give up a majority of those clients, but I understood that wouldn't happen till I was well on my way in the program. They told me that I wouldn’t be able to take those with me when I went to corporate because they would be considered too small by the criteria we were establishing for the biggest accounts. I went into this with zeal because I liked the opportunity, and I really thought I was going to be a big boon to my old company who was now reduced to just a region of NEW BIG COMPANY. The ex owners thought it was too. They thought I would be bringing in more revenue for them. However, that was not the NEW BIG companies plan and they told me that my old owners would only see a tiny portion of the revenue. It was not my choice but after that, my old company, the one I had given my all too,and in fact saved from bankruptcy turned their back on me. Then they began taking accounts from me and giving them to other reps because “I was GOING to be” a national corporate guy. The new manager I had told me that I should keep some accounts for my new position, so when I told the old guys that, they got extremely upset, specifically the old owner Ken, who used to cry and gnash his teeth about loyalty when people left his company.
This set the stage for the end. Ken yelled at me when I told them I was to keep SOME of my accounts. I brought it to the attention of my corporate manager and he told me what I was doing was right as he was the one that told me to do it. Little did I realize how completely and utterly morally bankrupt he was. I was out on an island by myself with no safety net, completely dependent on BIG NEW corp, who hadn’t yet started my program or salary, obligations they PROMISED to fulfill. I didn't hear anything from them in June, but they told me it would be July. So, I let it go until July. I was buying a new house, bigger with more space for my children at the end of the month and I was busy with that and also starting some of my own business interests because deep down I knew something was wrong. But I couldn’t figure out what. After all, I was the top salesman in the company and had already won an award with Big New Company for the biggest sale. So boiling down to the day I closed on my house: At approximately 5 PM I read an email from the old owner, Ken (oh fount of virtue) that he “had to talk to me” and that he had “some information that may affect me closing on my house” of course that set off alarm bells in me. It was too late to do anything to the house and I couldn’t believe it but this sounded like a termination! Me, top salesman, the one who spent a year giving them a program that I created, following the rules that THEY gave me. That night I called everybody I could to get the scoop, my new weasel manager and several other company execs. None of them would answer my calls. However, I got a hold of the Vice President who was a big fan of mine and he didn’t know anything which was strange. Finally my old manager, greg, a nice guy (and the one that helped me to obtain my new position), took pity on me and told me that they were letting me go. I was floored. I asked “Why? how could this be?” You don.t fire your top guy after all. It makes no sense. Anyway I was never given a reason for my blindsided termination, and despite formal written requests I have still to this day never received one. However, I investigated on my own and this is what I believe happened: Once Ken, our old owner, who always made a point of talking about character and loyalty, didn’t like the fact that I was KEEPING some of my OWN accounts. You see,since corporate had made it clear he wasn’t going to get as much money from me, he wanted his own reps to TAKE the accounts I had built. So after he yelled at me on email after I told him I was going to keep a few accounts, I had forwarded it to my new manager who told me not to worry about it. But what really happened is that Ken went to the top ownership, the president, who had looked me in the eyes and promised me that everything was going to be all set up for me, and Ken basically told them that he wanted me gone. If he couldn’t have me, nobody would. Corporate wanted to appease him because they had done nothing but complain about how corporate was running things since Ken had sold the company. So they gave him his request as appeasement and they figured they could just take my program and give it to a new and cheaper rep. Afterall, I had built them an entire program and infrastructure by this point. So I was betrayed and left bereft of a job effective the day I closed on my house! CAN YOU SAY STRESS? Suffice it to say I brought legal action and we settled last week finally. Of course the settlement was a fraction of what I would have made had they fulfilled their obligations to me.
This whole process shook my confidence in people. Ken, I had thought, was one of my biggest allies. I had many times pushed myself extra hard over the years to help them out at times, because they were often in financial straights. I even took a one week per month layoff for a summer, even still working, to keep the technical people from being fired. Now, Ken was in an "earnout" phase for his selling of the company (which was seen as a huge sellout to us, especially after all the things that we did to float the company), so in his earnout deal he got to keep extra profits for three years. Funny that now that he stood to make money, I was expendible to him. The last 8 years of loyalty meant nothing, and he was making everyday uncomfortable for me.
It was his idea after all to send me to corporate. That was when he thought that corporate would give him extra money for me. Once they made it clear it wouldn’t benefit him as much, I was nothing to him and he made me feel it. So in a fit of childlike pique over daring to keep some of MY OWN ACCOUNTS, he went to management and backstabbed me!
Anyway, the BIG NEW COMPANY had been making serious and arrogant mistakes in the year I worked for them. I could see the writing on the wall. They didn’t understand the value of good salespeople (which makes sense, since their compensation and treatment of sales people left them with some of the worst in the business). But like I said, even though they had terrible people they were buying companies making them look like they were a strong company. Seeing this I had the foresight to put into play some business opportunities I had. My original plan was to start slow. But now with no income I was forced t take a loan against my house and fund things myself.
So now it is a tightrope I walk, but at least I am FREE. I am free from being at the mercy of others, and I am free of incompetence unless it is my own! I am working hard to make these business opps work, and I have worked harder than ever. But I can say at least one positive thing came out of it. I AM REBORN. Nothing feels as good as working on your own stuff and it has given me a new lease on life. If anything I attribute this to having the soul of a bodybuilder. Like the people on CEM, there is a drive to never let anything beat you. Most of you who frequent CEM share the same thing in common. WE have the discipline and intelligence to never get brought too low. WE are positive thinkers and WE are disciplined. So that brings an interesting question to the forefront: Is it the bodybuilding that gives us our drive to accomplishment, or are we all naturally positive strong people that were thus attracted to the tenets of bodybuilding, or sports like cycling and mma? I think it is the latter. And I intend to prove to myself and everyone else who didn’t think I was “worth it” to pay by seeing how successful I can be. I didn’t back down on the lawsuit and I won’t back down on this.. Things are starting to pay off. So this brings me to CEM…
CEM is now something that I want back in my life. It may not be as regular as it was before, but I want to be back with the people that always backed me, and I them. The friendships I forged on this site were/are real, and the people are of the highest caliber. Character means something here, and I want to associate myself with people like that, to reforge the bonds I have maid, and to continue to show people why CEM is the best board on the net. It is not about numbers and never has been. Numbers doesn't get you intelligence, virtue or clarity. As it always has been, this board attracts QUALITY.
Couple things I should mention. I still practice bodybuilding, althought with two kids it is more like weight lifting (I am due for starting my SUPER CUTTER program shortly!) and I am also into MMA as well (wait till you hear about that!) Pharmacology is still an important intellectual pursuit although I admit I am rusty on some things. Training, diet, and supplementation, are all still a main interest. I look forward to discussing those again with the members.
So hello again friends, I have missed you!! I sincerely hope that you are all ready to make my acquaintance AGAIN.
-JGUNS the reborn WE are CEM.
PS, I have some announcements to make soon that will strictly benefit CEM members, so keep an eye out!
Posted at: 04-05-2008 - 05:22 PM - Author: JGUNS
- Replies: 32 - Views: 509
The Mitchell Report
anyone read this? What is the quality of the evidence? Would it hold up in a court?
Posted at: 12-16-2007 - 08:37 PM - Author: headdoc
- Replies: 8 - Views: 191
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